It’s time for independence! Renting your first apartment is a huge milestone, but experiencing lease terms and credit history checks as a first-time renter can quickly become overwhelming. When renting your first apartment, there are many details to keep track of — from a security deposit, if you need a co-signer, and renters insurance to a pet deposit and how this fits into your monthly expenses. Keep reading for what to know when looking for that perfect first apartment with everything on your wish list.
What to know when looking for your first apartment
Preparation is key when renting for the first time. There are many things to consider when selecting from many city apartment communities. Let’s talk about what to look for.
1. Your budget
Put together your monthly expenses before looking for apartments. Take into account any bills, student loans and car payments you may have and look at them against your current monthly income. Most financial experts recommend not spending more than 30 percent of pre-tax income on monthly rent.
When approaching apartment complexes for your search, stick to your budget. This will help you stay on top of your living expenses and comfortably afford your monthly rent. If you need a co-signer, let them know early in the process.
2. Property manager quality may vary
It’s important to know to take your time when looking for your first apartment. Not all property managers and apartment complexes are the same. Before booking an appointment, look at reviews online, drive by the location at night to check out the building and take note of the amenities.
You’ll want to ask many questions to your potential landlord to see how they approach community management, how fast they address maintenance requests and the quality of the amenities. Stay alert for any red flags or any claims in the marketing collateral.
3. Upfront costs of a new apartment
It’s a common misconception that renting an apartment only requires you to pay rent. There are actually several costs associated with renting an apartment. Most apartments require a credit check, a security deposit, bank statements, first and last month’s rent and an application fee.
Depending on your credit history, the property owner may need someone to co-sign the lease with you. You should also account for the renters insurance required to live in the complex.
4. What about your furry friend?
Check with the property manager to see if they allow pets. If you have three cats and the lease only allows two, this complex is not a good fit for you. It’s important to read the lease carefully for these types of clauses.
If your apartment doesn’t accept puppy pals, consider getting assorted fish, as they usually don’t count toward the pet policy.
5. Ongoing costs for an apartment
Aside from renters insurance, you’ll need to account for monthly costs on top of your rent. Make sure you can afford the following:
Electricity
Gas
Internet and cable
Water, sewer and trash
Groceries
Pet rent
Amenities fee
Administrative fee
These fees are not all-inclusive, but they equal several hundred dollars that you need to consider within your monthly budget. Utilities and groceries always vary due to inflation, so make sure to place a buffer for any increases in costs.
When visiting an apartment, ask the landlord for an estimate on utilities and additional rent costs to get an idea.
6. Decide if you need a roommate
You may need to choose a studio versus a one-bedroom with extra space, but it’s important to stick to what you can afford. Or, consider looking for a compatible roommate who can split costs with you.
Sharing an apartment with a roommate can get complicated if you’re not a match, but if you are, it’s an excellent way to save some money and split cleaning chores. Whether you find a stranger or a good friend, make sure you have a roommate agreement before moving in. That’s definitely something to know when looking for your first apartment.
7. Location
Your dream apartment must be close to your work and your favorite places. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. residents spent 27.6 minutes commuting one way in 2019. Find a nice neighborhood that appeals to your lifestyle. For example, if you’re outdoorsy, you might want to find a neighborhood with green spaces and parks.
Before you fill out that rental application, look at the side-by-side costs of housing and transportation. A unit closer to work is possibly more expensive but financially smarter in the long run if transportation costs increase exponentially from a cheaper, farther away unit.
8. Public transportation access
In cities with robust public transportation systems, living near it is a nice perk. Check out bus lines or train stations near the apartments you visit, especially if you don’t have a car.
Another thing to keep in mind? Bike and walk scores. You may not live near public transit, but if you can easily bike or walk somewhere, that’s something to consider.
9. Building floor plan
Once you decide on your neighborhood, pick several buildings to visit. We recommend around four or five complexes. You must see the space in real life (versus a virtual tour on their website) to see the actual state of the apartment.
Before signing a lease, review the building’s floor plans to pick the best one for your lifestyle. For example, you may prefer a top-floor unit away from the courtyard for security reasons.
10. Understand the terms of your lease
Leases come in many different shapes and forms. Most property managers have a standard 12-month agreement. However, others may offer a rent-controlled unit (meaning they can’t hike up the price), month-to-month and extended leases for lower per-month rent.
You must read the legal document carefully to understand your responsibility, any penalty clauses, and what the landlord is responsible for. This is also a great time to clarify utility costs, renters insurance requirements and pet rent.
What should I expect from my first apartment?
You’ve thought about the details of your financial situation. You’ve also made some overall choices about what you’re looking for.
Is it hard getting the first apartment?
It depends! Your experience may vary based on your rental, work history and credit. You will need a photo ID, bring proof that you can cover the cost of the apartment and have good references.
If you’re not having much luck with apartment buildings, reach out to your parents or family member to cosign for you. If you don’t pay rent on time, they will be responsible for it.
How much rent should you save for your first apartment?
Most financial experts recommend staying within 30 percent of your gross monthly income (pre-tax). For example, if you make $50,000 a year, your maximum rent should stay at $1,250 per month.
However, with inflation and demand, you’ll have to use caution with your budget as the nationwide average rent has surpassed $2,000 a month for the first time.
You can use this rent calculator to see the average rent in your city and how much you can afford based on your annual household income.
After your apartment search
Exciting — you found your dream apartment. It’s time for all the details about moving, like picking a move-in date and booking the movers.
Start purging
Whether coming from your parent’s home or a college dorm, start going through all of your possessions early. While it’s hard to part with some stuff, clutter will make your apartment feel smaller and increase your moving costs.
Donate or sell anything that you don’t keep.
Pick up packing materials
Once you’ve sorted your belongings, it’s time to pick up boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, permanent markers and packing tape. Label every box with the room it goes in and its contents to help the movers work more efficiently.
Book the movers
It’s OK if your budget only allows for DIY moving with friends and pizza at the end. Just don’t forget to book the moving truck.
But if you can pay for professional movers, start looking as soon as you know your move-in date. Get a few quotes and referrals from friends before putting down a deposit.
Time to kick off your apartment hunt
What to know when looking for your first apartment as a first-time renter can quickly become overwhelming — the amount of paperwork alone! Do your due diligence and take your time until you find the best location for you.
With your checklist ready to go, keep track of the cost, amenities offered, how much space you need, lease terms and, most importantly, what you can afford.
Muriel Vega is an Atlanta-based journalist who writes about technology and its intersection with arts and culture. She’s worked on content for startups like Mailchimp, Patreon, Punchlist, Skillshare, Rent. and others. Muriel has also contributed to The Washington Post, Eater, DWELL, Outside Magazine, Atlanta Magazine, AIGA Eye on Design, Bitter Southerner and more.
Living off of minimum wage in this country is extremely burdensome: mentally, physically, and financially. As one Redditor puts it:
A nice dinner out with your significant other might seem like nothing to people who make more money than I do, but that is something I have to plan for. I have to pick up shifts at work and skip a meal or two in order to take someone out and feel “normal” for a few hours. But I get up and I do it every day because I have to.
However, with a little strategy applied, there are ways to alleviate your stress in the short term, multiply your earnings, and save for the long term.
Here are seven ways to improve your life and lifestyle while living on minimum wage.
What’s Ahead:
Create a budget
While I researched this piece, my friend Steph described a moment in the life of a minimum wage earner:
I used to love Campbell’s brand soup as a kid. Aldi stocks it right next to the generic brand soup, which is $0.40 cheaper. So I stood there for a good five minutes debating whether I could truly afford the name brand soup that I wanted. But eventually, I left the Campbell’s on the shelf.
Steph’s problem, as she put it, is that she doesn’t have a budget so she never knows how much she can really spend without feeling guilty.
It’s almost ironic that creating a budget can feel both scary and tedious at the same time. But having a budget on any wage is so critical because it provides two primary benefits:
First, budgeting ensures that you don’t overspend and end up with net zero or negative earnings at the end of the month, which can jeopardize your long-term goals of financial independence.
Second, when you create a budget, you’ll learn down to the dollar how much you can spend on nonessentials each month.
As someone who’s briefly lived on minimum wage (and no wage), I can assert that it’s really hard to live life when every non-essential purchase, like Campbell’s soup or a movie rental, is laced with guilt and fear of the unknown.
Part of designing a budget is determining how much you’ll allow yourself to spend on fun and happy things without feeling guilty. Even if it’s only $40 per month on nonessentials, that’s $40 you can spend guilt-free, which is so critical to supporting your mental health.
As for which budget to follow, consider the 50-30-20 budget:
50% of your income goes to essentials (bills, food, rent, utilities, etc.).
30%of your income goes to discretionary spending (entertainment, social life, etc.).
20%of your income goes to savings (investments, 401k, etc.).
Now, you might be thinking that well over 50% of your income is already going to your essentials. To be sure, you can use MU30’s 50-30-20 Budget Calculator to confirm your suspicions. If things are tight, consider shaving 10% off of the latter two categories so your budget plan becomes 70-20-10.
Once you’ve established a budget, it’s time to start storing your money in the right places.
Open some checking, savings, and retirement accounts
There are many American households that are either unbanked or underbanked, meaning they either have no bank accounts or they have an account, but rely upon outside/unscrupulous financial institutions like payday lenders to make ends meet.
Payday lenders are extremely dangerous places to do business and should be avoided, but more on that later.
The research found that the #1 reason why these households avoid banks is that they feel that they don’t have enough money. The #2 reason is that they simply don’t trust banks.
If you hold these beliefs, I get it. Banks do sketchy things, and overdraft fees are a pain. But the benefits of opening accounts with the right bank far outweigh the potential cons.
A checking account is critical for safely storing and accessing your money on a daily basis. It also enables you to make purchases with a credit card, which can help build positive credit. Lastly, having at least a checking account will enable you to set up direct deposit with work, which we’ll talk about below.
A savings account is a rainy day fund that accumulates a little interest (around 1.0% these days, compounded annually). If you have money that you won’t need immediately but may need before retirement, a savings account is a good place to keep it.
For a great starter mobile financial app, consider Chime®. They offer checking and savings accounts, and I don’t hesitate to recommend them to someone making minimum wage because they help you build credit and charge zero fees (their whole mission is to make money off of banks, not customers)2. Plus, they make it super easy to get started.
Finally, I strongly recommend setting up a retirement account. Even if you can only contribute a few bucks a month (or a year), that money will still multiply by a factor of 10-15 by the time you retire, so it’s much better than not having any retirement savings at all. Plus, in my experience, just knowing that I was saving something for retirement was a stress-reliever.
To open a retirement account and put a few bucks in, I recommend Betterment. It’s a “robo-advisor,” meaning it’s an AI that never sleeps, optimizing your investments 24/7. You can open an account with a $10 required minimum deposit to start investing, and Betterment charges an annual fee of just 0.25% of your account balance (so no “minimum balance” nonsense here).
2 There’s no fee for the Chime Savings Account. Cash withdrawal and Third-party fees may apply to Chime Checking Accounts. You must have a Chime Checking Account to open a Chime Savings Account.
Set up direct deposit and automated bill pay
I mentioned direct deposit earlier as a benefit of a checking account. Why is that important?
Direct deposit is where you give your employer your account info so instead of writing a check, they can just directly deposit your pay into your bank account. Direct deposit is awesome because it means no more lost checks and you can get your money two-five days faster, and anyone living paycheck-to-paycheck knows that getting cash faster can make a huge difference at the end of the month.
Next, a checking account will also enable you to set up automatic bill pay. Most banks will have online dashboards where you can input recipients like AT&T and your landlord and set up automatic payments to them each month.
Now, AT&T and your leasing company might offer to automatically withdraw from your account when your bills are due, but I wouldn’t recommend this for two reasons. Let’s say you give your account and routing numbers to AT&T so they can automatically withdraw $50 each month. Regardless of how much money is in your account, AT&T will always try to withdraw $50, which could leave you without food/rent money or worse, overdrafted. Next, AT&T might simply make a clerical mistake and withdraw $500, and it can take a lot of red tape to get it back.
So instead, keep control of your automatic payments yourself so you can always quickly turn off the taps if you need to save money.
Avoid bad debt and build good credit
Never try payday loans
If you’ve ever considered taking out a loan from a payday lender, just don’t. Beg, borrow (but don’t steal) from friends and family before you walk into one of those places, because statistically, most people who take payday loans end up owing magnitudes more than they borrowed.
If you’re short on cash and friends and family couldn’t come through, you can also try Earnin. Earnin is a community-sourced app that lets you withdraw up to $100 per day from your next paycheck amount in advance. Most crucially, they don’t charge fees or interest.
Build good credit simply by getting your credit report
Next, you’ll want to start building some good credit. Your credit score is an indicator not of your wealth, but how likely you are to pay back a loan in time. Building good credit is essential because having good credit lowers your interest rates on future loans. Improving your credit score by just 100 in your 20s can help you save thousands on your car payment, or even a mortgage.
To start, you can check your credit score for free, with no strings attached, at Credit Karma. Also, you’ve probably read in the news about unscrupulous tax filing companies that dupe Americans into paying to file their taxes when it should be free. Well, Credit Karma Tax doesn’t mess around and lets you file your taxes easily, 100% free. Put a note on your calendar to head to Credit Karma Tax next April.
Build your credit by using a credit card responsibly
Aside from paying bills and loans on time, a great way to build good credit is to put your bills and expenses on a credit card. Yes, having a credit card with a big line of credit is a slippery slope for anyone regardless of income, but as long as you stick to your 50-30-20 budget and set up autopay, you’ll be fine.
Having a credit card while you’re living on minimum wage is a good idea because it can generate cash back on your existing daily expenses. I’m a massive fan of my Chase Freedom Unlimited® for this reason; it offers cash back in every category imaginable. You’ll start by earning 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3% on dining and drugstores, and finally, 1.5% cash back on all other purchases. So there’s a little something for every category I spend in.
Plus, you can earn an additional 1.5% on all purchases (up to $20,000 spent in the first year).
Get some government benefits
If you’re struggling to make ends meet, you may qualify for some government support. The federal and state governments offer programs that provide food, utilities, healthcare, child care, insurance, phones, and more.
To see which benefits you might qualify for, visit benefits.gov.
You may also qualify to receive some help from a local non-profit group. For example, I recently did some work with Helping Mamas in Atlanta, Georgia, who supplies food, diapers, and other critical supplies to low-income mothers in need.
Do a little research and see what non-governmental resources might be available to you locally. You can also use Reddit and Facebook to connect with other minimum wage earners in your area to learn more about where others are seeking support.
Take classes, freelance, and increase your earnings
Did you know that some states offer community college for free, and most will offer scholarships to students with financial needs?
It may seem like an exhausting prospect to take classes on top of a 60-hour workweek, but learning an in-demand skill or trade at community college is the fastest way to transform your earnings into a liveable wage. According to CNN Money, graduates of a vocational program that took less than six months to complete earned an average salary of around $38,000 after graduation. If you get a two-year associate degree in STEM, you can earn twice that.
If you’re looking for a trickle of extra cash in the short term, ask yourself: is there one skill or favor that my friends keep asking me to do? Maybe it’s video editing, photography, public speaking, writing, moving, handiwork, etc. If so, start charging! Use sites like Facebook Marketplace, Nextdoor, and Upwork to list your services and start your fees above the minimums you see so people place value on your work.
Finally, if you’re already spending a lot of time gaming on your smartphone or surfing the web, you might consider earning a little extra cash on Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a safe, secure place where you can watch videos, take surveys, even play games in exchange for gift cards. It all equates to around $2 per hour so it’s less of an income stream than a trickle, but a little time on Swagbucks per day could cover a grocery bill or two.
Set some financial goals
Once you’ve taken the above steps to regain your financial footing and recoup some mental health, let’s set some financial goals.
There are plenty of “ducks in a row” apps out there that will help you organize your finances, stick to a budget, and set a reasonable goal (i.e. save for a down payment on a house) that you can track over time. However, my personal favorite and the one I recommend for minimum wage earners is PocketSmith.
PocketSmith is like a virtual financial assistant. In addition to helping you organize a crystal clear picture of your earnings and financial outlook, its most notable feature is financial forecasting. You can tell PocketSmith that you’re considering a big purchase like a new bike or a down payment on a car and it’ll actually show you how such a decision will impact your finances and savings goals.
Best of all, it offers these services, including forecasting, for free in its Basic Plan.
Summary
Living off of minimum wage is mentally and physically draining, but with some strategy, you can alleviate the stress in the short term and achieve financial independence sooner than you think.
For more on how to cut expenses and increase your earnings while on minimum wage, check out MU30’s article: How To Save And Invest When You Make Minimum Wage.
Touring a potential new apartment is more than an opportunity to get a feel for the space. Going on an apartment tour gives you a chance to ask the landlord questions about the specifics of the unit and building to make sure it’s the right fit for you. It helps you make sure the apartment ticks all the right boxes on your “want” or “need” list, from fitting your budget to having special amenities like parking. That way, you fully understand the ins and outs of renting that particular unit and won’t get hit with any unpleasant surprises like unexpected fees during or after the rental process.
It’s always a good idea to go to an apartment viewing with a list of prepared questions so you don’t forget anything. This list of what to ask on an apartment tour covers everything you’ll need to know and ask when renting an apartment.
Asking the right questions on an apartment tour
In the excitement of viewing what could be your new home, don’t forget to ask your potential landlord these questions.
1. How much is the rent?
Unless you’re a millionaire to whom money is no object, make this your first question to ask on your apartment tour as soon as you walk in the door. If the monthly rent is too expensive or out of your budget, there’s no point in continuing with the tour unless you can negotiate.
Nowadays, apartment rental costs are usually available online with apartment listings. But, sometimes, you need to inquire directly with the management company or landlord about the cost of the rent.
2. What are the lease terms?
In addition to covering important information like the cost of rent and when the lease begins and ends, one of the most important aspects of the rental agreement is the lease terms. This states how long you’ll be renting the unit. The average lease term is for 12 months, although some landlords offer the option of a month-to-month lease. Month-to-month lease agreements offer flexibility and generally have more lenient terms, but a long-term lease of a year or more has more stability. Longer-term leases can also sometimes be used to negotiate a lower rent.
Most leases will also include information about specific policies like quiet hours, guest rules and more. In addition to asking questions about the lease agreement, you should always thoroughly read through the terms before signing.
3. What do you need for the apartment application?
Most apartment applications require the same items like pay stubs, bank statements, rental history and personal information. But some landlords have extra requirements like additional references, so it’s a good idea to check if the property manager needs anything extra to process your application so you can get it as soon as possible.
4. Are utilities included?
Renting an apartment that has utility costs calculated into each month’s rent is a big money-saver. But, apartment complexes will each have different rules when it comes to utilities included. Sometimes, they’ll cover some utilities like water, other times they’ll cover all primary utilities. In some cases, you’ll pay a set amount to the property manager for a certain utility. That’s why you should double-check what utilities the property manager would and would not cover and which are your personal responsibility as tenants.
5. What are the utility costs?
If there are some utilities that aren’t covered, you can ask the landlord for a rough estimate as to how much the utilities cost. They can’t give you an exact number since costs vary depending on personal usage and time of year, but they can still likely give you an approximate number.
For utilities that aren’t covered, you can also ask how you go about setting up personal accounts for services like water, electricity or internet.
6. Are there other costs included in the rent?
Along with utility costs, the cost of rent can sometimes cover or include building or property maintenance, cleaning or access to building perks. Check with the property manager to see what rent covers each month.
7. Are there any building dues or fees?
If you’re going to live in a condo or co-op apartment building, you may need to pay regular monthly dues on top of rent and other fees.
8. Are there any application or move-in fees?
Along with the first month’s rent and the security deposit, there are a lot of upfront, non-refundable costs associated with renting an apartment. You may need to pay an apartment application fee per person applying for each apartment, which costs anywhere from $20 to $50 but can get as high as $100.
Some landlords also charge move-in fees that cover cleaning or refurbishments to the unit before you move in. All these fees can really add up, so make sure you’re aware of them all so you can budget properly.
9. Do you have any move-in specials, discounts or special offers at this time?
To entice potential renters, apartment complexes will sometimes offer special deals like getting a free month. You can save yourself major money by taking advantage of a good move-in deal, so ask the landlord if they’re offering any special deals at this time.
10. How much is the security deposit?
When apartment hunting, you’ll find that many landlords require a security deposit. Typically, the deposit is the same amount as one month’s rent, but sometimes it’s less or more depending on your credit or rental history. As long as you take good care of the apartment and only inflict the usual wear and tear, you should get the full amount back when the lease ends.
You should also inquire about what constitutes normal wear and tear and if there are any extra fees for cleaning or maintenance upon move-out.
11. Am I permitted to sublet?
Want to go spend three months in Europe but don’t want to lose your apartment? You could always sublet the unit for a few months, but the rules about subletting vary by the property manager or leasing office. If the lease agreement doesn’t specify whether or not you can sublet, and under what grounds, confirm with the landlord. You don’t want to risk getting evicted or tarnishing your reputation as a good tenant by subletting without permission.
12. Am I allowed to add a roommate to the lease?
Along with subletting, check if you can add roommates to the lease and if so, under what terms. Sometimes, you and the roommate will need to sign updated leases, but other times, the landlord won’t care.
13. When do I need to pay rent?
Rent is typically due on the first of the month, but always double-check when you need to pay rent. This information should also be listed in your lease agreement.
14. Is there a grace period for late rent?
Sometimes life happens and you’re a bit short on cash come the first of the month. Ask if there’s a grace period before you get charged late fees. The average time before being charged a late fee is between five to seven days.
15. How do I pay for rent?
Most modern apartment communities let you make online payments for things like rent, but some still prefer checks. It’s best to double-check and avoid an unpleasant surprise when your landlord asks where your already-paid rent is.
16. Are there any costs to terminate the lease early?
If you get a new job and suddenly need to move in the middle of your lease, you’ll likely need to pay extra for breaking the contract early. The exact amount varies depending on the apartment complex, landlord, state or city, so be sure you know the specifics.
You should also ask how early in advance you need to give notice to vacate the apartment.
17. Do you require renters insurance?
As protection against liability and to allow a wider pool of applicants, most landlords require their tenants have renters insurance to cover their personal property.
Even if the landlord doesn’t require renters insurance, it’s still a good idea get it in case something happens.
18. Are pets allowed? If so, what is the pet policy?
Pet parents, take note. Some apartments don’t allow pets or only permit certain species or breeds, so you have to ask the landlord about their pet policy. Moving with a pet, you may also have to pay pet rent each month or pay pet fees along with moving costs.
19. What is the guest policy?
Most properties have rules when it comes to having guests stay over. Typically, overnight guests are OK but the lease may limit how long you can have a guest stay with you.
20. How are repairs and maintenance requests handled?
Don’t wait to get woken up at midnight by an overflowing toilet to understand how to put in requests for repairs or maintenance. If your building has an online tenant portal, you can likely file a request online. But other times, you’ll need to call the maintenance staff or leasing office.
You should also clarify if the building offers 24/7 emergency repairs and who to contact for after-hours emergencies.
21. What amenities does the apartment building include?
Amenities like gyms, communal areas, pools, dog parks and more can really make one apartment building stand out over another. Along with viewing different units, you can also request a complete building tour to see what amenities and perks it offers. Be sure to ask if you have to pay extra fees to use some of the amenities.
22. Does the building have a parking garage or designated parking?
Especially in big cities, street parking is always a hassle. An apartment complex with its own private parking lot or parking garage is worth its weight in gold, so make sure you ask what the parking situation is. If the complex does have its own parking, you may need to pay parking fees.
23. What security measures does the property have?
Your home is your castle, and you need to make sure it’s protected. Ask about security measures around the complex, such as cameras, locking gates and doors and security guards.
24. Who can I contact in case of emergencies?
Whether it’s an after-hours maintenance emergency or a crime has happened in your complex, make sure you’d know who to contact and how.
25. Are there any restricted or off-limits activities?
Some complexes or specific units may prohibit certain activities like smoking indoors or using a grill. If these restrictions aren’t laid out in the lease, make sure to ask the property manager.
26. Is the cost of rent ever increased? If so, by how much?
It’s normal for landlords to raise the cost of rent upon renewal, and depending on the market and demand, it could be a lot or a little. They may not have an exact answer, but by asking about price hikes, you’ll know if you need to expect one come renewal time.
If you’re worried about rising rates, ask if you can lease the unit for longer to lock in lower rates.
27. Do you offer pest control?
It’s the property manager’s responsibility to deal with pest control like cockroaches or bed bugs and you want to live in a complex that takes it seriously. Ask what preventative methods they use, what company they work with and how pest control would impact you if there were an issue.
28. How do I file complaints?
Whether it’s a complaint against other tenants or your property manager, understand the process for filing complaints.
29. Can I make changes to the unit and how will they impact my security deposit?
It’s fun to outfit your new home to your liking, but double-check what kind of decorations or changes are acceptable.
What if my apartment tour is virtual?
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of virtual apartment tours has become more widespread. If you’re doing a live Zoom tour with the landlord, you can ask directly. If it’s an unguided virtual tour, you can set up a phone or Zoom call with the landlord or email them a list of questions.
Save yourself time, energy and money by asking the right questions on an apartment tour
Going into an apartment tour prepared with questions helps you quickly weed out whether an apartment is right for you or not and move on to the next place.
As the pandemic shut down office life in Los Angeles’ downtown financial district, Claude Cognian tried to keep his gastropub Public School 213 open. But the evacuation of white-collar workers made way for an influx of homeless people and drug users — and more than a few troublemakers striding in the front door.
“It was hard to keep hostesses at the door, because they got scared,” said Cognian, chief executive of the restaurant’s parent company, Grill Concepts Inc.
Three break-ins cost as much as $12,000 each time just to repair the windows, all while the bottom line was cratering in the absence of the office employees who used to gather for lunch and after-work drinks. With sales down 75% from pre-pandemic days, his company closed the downtown gastropub in August and is not planning to return.
“Our bet was that downtown was going to come back, and it hasn’t,” Cognian said.
For decades the Los Angeles financial district was the beating heart of downtown, the corporate muscle that gave the city of sprawl a soaring glass skyline. But the pandemic and the wave of remote work hollowed out its skyscrapers and helped shut many restaurants and businesses that relied on crowds of workers. Though the neighborhood shows signs of recovery, few expect it to return to being the bustling hive of suits and ties that it was.
Advertisement
To many insiders — the urban planners, real estate developers and business owners with interests in it — the area will recover only if its identity grows more textured than a zone of white-collar office space.
Desirable office addresses were already spreading beyond the financial district before the pandemic, as downtown experienced a renaissance in housing, art and entertainment on blocks previously shunned by investors and residents.
To the south, billions of dollars were spent improving the blocks around Crypto.com Arena with hotels, housing and entertainment venues. Obsolete century-old commercial and industrial buildings to the east were renovated into desirable housing and fashionably unconventional offices. Billions more were spent north on Bunker Hill where the Music Center including Walt Disney Concert Hall and office skyscrapers have been joined by museums, apartments and a high-rise hotel.
The housing boom drew residents to the financial district as well, and that has kept it from turning into a ghost town.
But for the area to truly come back to life, many say it will need to follow the path of Lower Manhattan. The financial capital of New York faced an exodus after 9/11, but city officials and investors staved it off by making it a place of more diverse uses. It is still an office district but is far more lively than it used to be since it also became a residential neighborhood with more shops, restaurants, parks and hotels than it had before the attacks. A performing arts center will open in September.
“Cities evolve. That’s what they do,” said downtown L.A. business representative Nick Griffin. “From natural disasters, wars and pandemics. They evolve with market changes, customer preferences and cultural shifts. Downtown has evolved pretty dramatically over the last 20 years and the next five or so are going to be very interesting.”
Many companies have returned to their offices, but on a limited basis as their employees work some days from home. “For Lease” signs clutter building fronts, tacked over restaurants and bars that once served lively hordes of office workers. Graffiti marks windows.
At Public School 213, the chairs are stacked neatly on tables as if it just closed for the night. Other former restaurants have been gutted by their landlords. Sidewalks are quiet, sometimes eerily so.
Downtown’s centers of gravity have shifted numerous times since its days as a remote Spanish pueblo.
The plaza by Olvera Street near the Los Angeles River was el centro until the late 19th century. When the railroads arrived in the American era, the business elite shifted the commercial district south from the plaza toward 1st Street in the Anglo section of the racially divided city, said Greg Fischer, an expert on the history of downtown who worked on planning matters for former City Councilwoman Jan Perry. Main, Spring, Broadway and Hill streets became the business hub.
In the early 20th century, elite social clubs such as the Jonathan Club, the California Club and the Los Angeles Athletic Club erected new buildings on the west side of downtown where property was relatively cheap. Soon the rooming houses, small apartment buildings and ramshackle Victorian homes there gave way. Richfield and other oil companies headquartered there, the seeds of today’s financial district.
Advertisement
In “the Jetsons era,” as Fischer described the 1960s, corporate leaders viewed the Spring Street-centered office district as increasingly obsolete and passé and moved to newer buildings in the financial district. Downtown lost a lot of itslifeblood during that time, he said.
“In the years after World War II, downtown was a shopping, office and entertainment area,” Fischer said. “By the 1960s the office component had shifted west, most entertainment went to suburbs and housing just evaporated.”
Among the big businesses with offices in the west were the Richfield, Union, Signal, National and Superior oil companies. Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. was headquartered there and Bank of America had a big presence.
The boundaries of the financial district are not officially outlined, but property brokerage CBRE defines it as the office center south of Bunker Hill and 4th Street, flanked on the west by the 110 Freeway and on the east by Hill Street and extending south to 8th Street.
By the 1980s, much of downtown was moribund; buildings that once thrummed with commerce were dilapidated and vacant or underused. There were pockets of vibrancy, notably the Jewelry District and a Latino-centric shopping zone that emerged among aging buildings along Broadway in the Historic Core. The Civic Center around City Hallremained one of the largest concentrations of public administrative buildings in the country, employing thousands of workers.
But the financial district was the shinythriving part of the city, a high-rise office park for lawyers, bankers and accountants who piled into their cars for a mass exodus at the end of each workday.
To many, the neighborhood felt like a corporate fortress, invisibly walled off from the rest of downtown. Business leaders were painfully aware that downtown L.A. lacked the vibrancy of other big cities because it had so few residents, but was stuck in a chicken-and-egg dilemma: People didn’t want to live there because it lacked restaurants, grocery stores and other typical city-life amenities, but merchants didn’t want to set up shop because few lived there.
Advertisement
The stalemate began to break around 2000 with an ordinance that made it easier to redevelop obsolete office buildings into housing. The relocation of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings pro sports teams to the new downtown arena then known as Staples Center brought thousands of sports and music fans and led a wave of development south of the financial district.
Decades of efforts to add rail service and thousands of apartments and condominiums helped create a more vibrant downtown that was taking on the flavor of other big cities before the pandemic.
“All of a sudden people were walking dogs and pushing baby carriages,” architect Martha Welborne said. “New restaurants came in, even destination restaurants that weren’t just for the people who worked downtown or lived there.”
Fortunately for downtown’s future prospects, its apartment towers remain nearly fully occupied. More than 35,000 units were built after 1999, when so few people lived there that downtown didn’t even have a big-chain grocery store.
Three new hotels have recently opened and a 42-story apartment tower will start leasing later this year. Bottega Louie, one of the region’s top-grossing restaurants before it shut down during the pandemic, reopened in 2021. A few blocks away, legendary Beverly Hills steakhouse Mastro’s also opened a seafood restaurant last year near Crypto.com Arena.
And last week, Metro opened its new Regional Connector, a 1.9-mile underground downtown track adding three stations and linking different lines to make travel more seamless.
Though some business owners have abandoned the financial district, others see an opportunity to get in at an affordable price during what they hope is a temporary economic dip.
Restaurateur Prince Riley recently leased a spot on Grand Avenue that was last home to the Red Herring restaurant. He grabbed it because he liked the location and it was already built-out for upscale dining.
“You can see all the love and care that went into this space,” he said. “They were a casualty of COVID.”
Riley and his wife plan to open their restaurant, named Joyce, in July, featuring a raw bar and Southern-style seafood such as crudo and ceviche. They moved into the apartment building upstairs to be close to it.
The couple like being near Bottega Louie, a popular Whole Foods grocery store and the recently opened Hotel Per La, which took over a lavishly refurbished 1920s building last occupied by another hotel that closed early in the pandemic.
“I can see business picking up,” Riley said. “This is an opportunity from a terrible tragedy like COVID. We wouldn’t have had this otherwise.”
A key factor keeping downtown teetering between recovery and a further downward slide appears to be discomfort with the streets and the sense that they are not as safe as they were before the pandemic.
The blocks close to Metro’s underground 7th Street/Metro Center station, where multiple light and heavy rail train lines meet, are among those that have changed the most since the pandemic as the Metro system struggles to combat rampant drug use and serious crimes such as robbery, rape and aggravated assault on its lines.
Thegrowing number of homeless people on the streets has been an issue in other cities too, said Cognian of Public School 213. His company also closed restaurants in Seattle and San Francisco because customers at their urban locations trickled away as unhoused people commandeered the sidewalks.
“Hopefully, we as a city, as a state, find a solution for the homeless,” he said. “If the homeless situation doesn’t get solved in some fashion that allows tourists, office workers and businesses to operate, it’s just going to bring down the area.”
Real estate broker Derrick Moore of CBRE, who specializes in matching restaurant and shop operators with landlords, said leasing of retail space downtown has improved in recent months, especially compared to the dark days of the 2020pandemic shutdown when downtown fell silent.
“It seems like ancient history,” Moore said, “but it was very devastating to one’s psyche.” And to downtown businesses.
In the wake of the COVID shutdown, downtown overall lost more than 100 food and beverage establishments with a combined footprint of more than 1 million square feet, Moore said.
“That’s restaurants, bars and lounges, juice bars, boutique coffee operators and even national brands,” Moore said. “A good portion of those remain vacant.”
Replacement tenants like Joyce restaurant are starting to come in, he said, with leasing and property showings picking up in the first quarter at a “resoundingly” busier pace than early 2022. Moore has taken potential tenants to the empty Public School space, where across the street the failed Standard Hotel just reopened under new management as the Delphi.
Faced with a challenging market, retail landlords have cut their asking rents as much as 50% from pre-COVID prices, Moore said, and more than doubled the amount they are willing to spend on tenant upgrades such as installing restaurant kitchens and restrooms, and providing periods of free rent.
Advertisement
The financial district also faces a struggle of changing tastes, with many firms bypassing the gleaming skyscrapers that were the height of prestige in the late 20th century in favor of campus-style offices anda more laid-back vibe.
Even legal firms, long a stalwart in the financial district, are turning elsewhere in some cases. One firm established in February recently opted out of putting its office there.
“When we started to look at space it became very clear to us that locating in the financial district was a very different proposition than it used to be,” said Matt Umhofer, a partner at Umhofer, Mitchell & King. “Downtown has changed dramatically, and we wanted to rethink what it means to be a law firm in Los Angeles and let go of preconceived notions of needing to be in the financial district in order to be relevant.”
The fledgling firm opted instead for an office in Row DTLA, a campus of shops, restaurants and offices created out of century-old warehouses near the Arts District, east of the financial center, even though office rents in the Arts District are often higher than they are in the glitzy skyscrapers.
“The short version is, being in the financial district isn’t as cool as maybe it was in the past,” Umhofer said.
The spotty attendance of office workers has changed the character of business centers across the country, said Mark Grinis, leader of consulting firm EY‘s real estate, hospitality and construction practice.
An analysis by EY found that offices are being used at only 25% to 50% of the level they were before the pandemic.
“In some locations, three-quarters of the people that normally would have gone in, didn’t,” Grinis said. “People are not on the subway, ordering sandwiches at lunch or having a drink after work.”
Advertisement
Vacant offices and storefronts can hinder recovery, he said, because people shy away from empty spaces.
“Three blocks of vacant houses in a residential neighborhood ultimately becomes a negative,” he said. “An office center is not that different.”
The physical appearance of vacancy becomes more alarming when graffiti, litter and grime follow and create a bad “multiplier effect,” Grinis said.
Stopping the spiral starts with making the streets safe and getting homeless residents into better housing, but there are also public policy decisions that could help landlords convert office buildings to housing if they are no longer competitive on the office leasing market.
Advertisement
And the market has been brutal. Owners of some of downtown’s office high-rises have faced defaults, foreclosures and rushed sales in the face of falling demand, real estate data provider CoStar said.
The owner of two of the financial district’s premier office towers, 777 Tower and Gas Company Tower, said in February that it defaulted on loans tied to the buildings. Other high-rise owners are in similar straits.
In the face of rising vacancy rates, “those defaults could signal pain to come for the 69-million-square-foot downtown L.A. office market,” CoStar said.
Owners of buildings facing foreclosure sometimes don’t have enough money to build out new tenants’ offices, as is customary, which hinders strapped landlords from recovering financially.
Commercial landlords are getting hit on multiple fronts, said Jessica Lall, managing director of the downtown office of CBRE.
“What we’re seeing is a perfect storm when it comes to the office distress in downtown L.A.,” she said.
Loans on large-scale properties are maturing at a time when interest rates are high, making refinancing a challenge, Lall said. There is widespread uncertainty among tenants about how much space they will need to rent in the future if employees work remotely at least some of the time.
Advertisement
Those issues are compounded by “the general perception around downtown being unsafe,” she said. “All urban centers are grappling with that issue right now.”
The downtown office vacancy rate — the share of total space that is unleased — climbed to 24% in the first quarter, up from 21.1% a year ago, according to CBRE. More empty space is coming, the brokerage said, pushing estimated availability to a daunting 30% as some companies shrink their offices or move away from downtown.
Law firm Skadden, for example, a large longtime tenant in downtown’s Bunker Hill district, has decided to move its offices to Century City .
The landlord of the U.S. Bank Tower, downtown’s tallest office tower at 72 stories, remains bullish on the market in spite of its troubles and recently spent $60 million to make the building more attractive to tenants by adding hotel-like amenities.
“People need offices,” said Marty Burger, chief executive of Silverstein Properties, which owns the tower. “Not every company in every industry needs an office, but the majority of them do.”
Among the reasons for offices are collaboration and education, he said. “How do you mentor the young folks who are coming up in your industry if the older people aren’t in the office for younger people to learn from? There is a whole ecosystem where you need people in an office now.”
Advertisement
Companies may end up using their offices fewer days of the week than they used to as remote work and shortened schedules grow in popularity, he acknowledged: “Fridays may never be Fridays again.”
Burger says his optimism about downtown L.A.’s potential for improvement has a foundation in New York, where Silverstein built One World Trade Center on the site of the Twin Towers.
“After 9/11, everyone said that no one would ever live there or work there again,” Burger said.
In 2001, the neighborhood had about 20,000 residents and saw little activity after office hours. Now rebuilt, the neighborhood has about 75,000 residents and a greater mix of office tenants including businesses in tech and advertising in what was mostly a banking center before, Burger said.
“It’s a vibrant 24/7 community,” he said.
Many see this as the best future for L.A.’s financial district.
The city’s tight housing market combined with the downturn in office rentals opens the possibility to convert some office buildings into housing or hotels.
More residents and visitors would make the neighborhood more dynamic and better able to support restaurants, shops and nightlife, said Griffin, executive director of the privately funded Downtown Center Business Improvement District, a nonprofit coalition of more than 2,000 property owners.
Advertisement
“If we trade some office for residential, that’s a good thing.”
The pandemic’s blow to the office market “is an opportunity that none of us ever imagined happening,” Welborne said, “transforming office buildings into residential buildings and reimagining our entire downtown.”
The apartment hunt struggle is real these days, especially with ever-competitive rental markets. You have to know precisely what you’re looking for in an apartment, whether it be specifics like a walk-in closet or just the general location you want to live. You need to always think about things like the security deposit, the lease and the landlord.
It’s also a good tip when looking at the apartment you might rent to check everything from the bathroom to the bedroom. Make sure all the outlets and smoke detectors work and that the space is precisely what you want. Don’t forget to get good referrals because landlords often ask for them when you’re renting.
These are all important things to consider once you’re touring a new apartment but before you even get to the tour, there’s one thing you should also consider and that is what you should wear while apartment viewing.
Does it matter what you wear to an apartment tour?
While there are more important aspects to finding and securing a new apartment — such as your credit score, the security deposit and the application process — the truth is clothing does matter. Think of apartment viewing as a job interview and follow the same etiquette. Don’t arrive late — real estate agents and leasing managers are busy people who have many separate showings in a day, so don’t waste anyone’s time and dress for the future apartment you want.
What to wear to an apartment tour with a leasing agent
You might wonder if clothes really matter. Well, as they say, you should dress to impress. Most likely there are other people viewing the same apartment that you are with their leasing agent and you want to stick out. It also doesn’t hurt to impress the landlord of the apartment you want to rent in this competitive rental market
Remember, those first impressions are important and while it’s good to know what’s on the inside is what counts, it can’t hurt to make the outside match the inside. While clothes may vary depending on the situation, here are some tips on what to wear while apartment viewing.
1. Dress according to the weather
Since you can view an apartment in all types of weather, you should dress accordingly. It’s pretty basic knowledge — if it’s cold, wear a coat and good shoes. If it’s hot, wear something that you won’t sweat through. Consider these clothing tips for each season.
Winter: If you’re going on an apartment tour in the winter then you should obviously dress for the weather to stay nice and cozy. Consider wearing one of your nicer coats and boots to the tour. Wearing weather-appropriate shoes will make it so you don’t have wet feet or drip water throughout the place you’re touring with real estate agents.
Fall: Think about wearing something casual like a nice pair of jeans and a crisp shirt. Avoid clothing with tears, wrinkles and holes in it. Wear something that you’ll be comfortable but confident in.
Spring: Think about wearing a nice spring dress or skirt or khakis. Business casual attire is always a good go-to when house hunting.
Summer: During hot weather, it’s totally understandable to want to wear less clothing. However, when touring an apartment with your leasing agents, it’s best to avoid tight or short items. You want to wear something that you won’t sweat through but that still looks nice and presentable.
2. Wear business casual attire on an apartment tour to impress the property manager
You still might wonder exactly what you should wear when looking at apartments. Well, generally speaking, you can always rely on business casual attire. You really can’t go wrong with a nice pair of pants and a button-up shirt. You can dress up your street clothes by adding a few accessories here and there. Just be sure to take an iron to your clothes so they’re freshly pressed and this will make them look more professional.
3. Step it up a notch for your apartment viewing
You might have to choose different clothing depending on the apartment complex you’re touring. If you’re looking at a particular apartment that’s a bit more upscale, then business casual might not cut it and it might require formal attire. Check out the apartment community and see what the people are like and dress accordingly. Talk to the property managers and ask about what you can generally expect from the apartment complex.
If this is the case, then you can always go with a nicer pair of dress pants or dress or even consider a button-up and tie. When in doubt it’s always better to over-dress than to dress too casually.
4. Wear comfortable shoes
It’s easy for renters to forget the hard parts that go into apartment hunting, such as the amount of walking that goes into touring apartments and walking around the complexes. Touring apartment after apartment gets tiring easily and is hard on your feet. It’s a good idea to wear shoes that you can walk around in for the day and not get nasty blisters.
If you don’t want to walk around in heels for the day, then opt for some clean sneakers. There’s nothing worse than being uncomfortable, and you don’t want anything to distract you from the apartment you might rent.
5. Wear something that makes you feel confident and be yourself
While there are many tips that you can follow, there’s always room for exceptions. The bottom line is that you should always dress in something that makes you feel the most confident. Whether that’s jeans and a T-shirt or a suit, just be yourself. Nothing looks better on a person than confidence. Before you leave your bathroom or bedroom, take one last look at yourself and remind yourself that you’ve got this and that property is yours. If you have confidence, then you’ll have no problem finding the apartment of your dreams.
Sign the lease while looking your best
A landlord will consider things like your credit score and ability to pay rent on time over what you wear to an apartment tour, but it doesn’t hurt to dress up and look nice when touring apartments you’re considering renting. First impressions matter, whether we like it or not. So, put your best foot and fanciest shoe forward and you’re well on your way to signing a lease.
Ashley Singleton is a writer who loves following and writing about current lifestyle, DIY and home improvement trends. You can read some of her other work on the Lady Spike Media website. In her spare time, she performs stand-up comedy in Los Angeles.
There’s nothing worse than finding your dream apartment only to discover that you don’t quite meet the income requirements to qualify. Maybe you have poor credit or maybe you don’t make enough money each month to cover the rent. Whatever the reason, you know that you’re not quite what the landlord is looking for in a tenant. If you still have your heart set on that unit, you can bring in a co-applicant.
But there are benefits and drawbacks to co-applicants that you should know and consider before going down that road.
What is a co-applicant?
A co-applicant is an additional person you add to the rental application and resulting lease agreement for an apartment. If you have poor credit or your finances are in shambles due to recent bankruptcies, they boost your application with their improved assets like income or a great credit score.
Along with you, they jointly sign and bear the financial responsibility for paying rent for the apartment for the entire lease term. You both sign the lease agreements and are equally responsible for the apartment’s costs, but there is typically a primary applicant and then a secondary co-applicant. Think of it as a co-borrower when taking out a loan. You’re both taking out a stake to live in this apartment complex, and you’ll both be on the hook for costs. They also have the same rights to live in the apartment as you.
Both you and the co-applicant will need approval from the landlord. You’ll both need to submit apartment applications with all your personal information, rental history and employment history. The landlord will also need to run a background check and credit check to retrieve information on both you and the co-applicant to make sure you both qualify.
What is the difference between a co-applicant, a co-signer and a guarantor?
Terms like co-applicant, co-signer or guarantor are sometimes used interchangeably during the process of applying for a rental property. But in fact, there are key differences that separate all three. It’s also important to know and understand the differences between the three types in case you still need a third party to sign your lease but don’t necessarily want to live with that person.
Co-signer
A co-signer is a third-party person who signs a lease agreement along with the applicant, but they generally won’t live on the property. Similar to a co-applicant, they do have the right to live in the apartment or have access to it. People usually ask family members or friends to act as their co-signer and help vouch for them as tenants.
A co-signer is an insurance policy of sorts. By co-signing the lease, they’re guaranteeing that they’ll cover the rent in the event that the tenant fails in their responsibilities or falls behind on regular payments. For younger applicants just starting out who don’t have a good credit score or a well-paying job, many landlords prefer the stability of having someone co-sign.
Guarantor
A guarantor is a person who also signs the lease as a third party, but they aren’t entitled to live on or have access to the unit. Their relationship to the agreement is strictly financial, guaranteeing that either you or they will pay rent each month.
What are the pros of getting an apartment with co-applicants?
There are all sorts of benefits to renting an apartment with a co-applicant, from companionship to having someone to help with monthly rent payments.
Improves the odds of having your application accepted
Do you know that saying that two heads are better than one? Well, if you have bad credit or your monthly income is too low, two applicants are far better than one.
When you apply to an apartment with a co-applicant, their credit history, income and other assets are jointly considered along with yours. If you’re adding someone with more financial stability and overall better financial standing than you, it can greatly improve your odds of being accepted for the apartment.
Having someone to help pay rent
If you’re going to live with your co-applicants, odds are you’re both going to pay rent. With rental rates climbing ever higher, having someone to split the cost of the rent payment is a big money-saver.
Having an emergency fallback
Life happens and sometimes you come up short on rent on the first of the month. Knowing you have someone else you can turn to for help not only reduces stress but ensures you stay on good terms with the landlord and don’t have late payments added to your record.
Potentially lowers costs
Bringing on a co-applicant with excellent credit history can also help you save money. A good credit history shows that the co-applicant is financially responsible and more likely trustworthy. This can incentivize the landlord to reduce some fees like the security deposit.
Getting to live with someone else
Whether friend, partner or family member, living with someone you know and get along with has far more than financial benefits. It gives you the chance to create wonderful memories during a certain chapter in your life.
What are the cons of leasing an apartment with a co-applicant?
At the same time, you want to use care on who you sign a binding legal contract. People can reveal a whole different side of themselves when they move in. That’s true even individuals you’ve known for years like friends or partners.
That’s why it’s important to consider the ramifications of adding a co-applicant to the application process. It’s also why you shouldn’t simply sign a lease with someone you don’t know that well.
They have the same legal rights to the apartment
Co-applicants have the same rights to the apartment as you since both yours and their names are on the lease as co-signers.
If they don’t make sure that their share of the rent gets paid, you could be on the line for repayment.
Late or missed payments could damage the credit of both applicants
If you’re the primary applicant for the property and your co-applicant doesn’t pay their share of the rent, it could hurt your credit. Their credit will also be impacted.
Your relationship with the co-applicant could be impacted
If things go south between you and the co-applicant, it’s more than your finances that could be impacted. It could damage your relationship. That’s why one of the key takeaways in this debate is that you need to fully understand the ramifications of signing a legally binding document to live with someone.
Carefully consider who you want as your co-applicant
It’s all well and good to need someone to act as a fail-safe to help you get started as a renter. A co-applicant can bolster you. But, they can also become a hindrance if they’re not reliable since they have the same rights to the apartment.
Zoe Baillargeon is an award-winning writer and journalist based in Portland, Oregon, where she covers a variety of beats including travel, food and drink, lifestyle and culture for outlets like Apartment Guide, Rent., AFAR.com, Fodor’s, The Manual, Matador Network and more. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, hiking, reading and spoiling her cat.
The time has come. You’ve found the perfect apartment, assembled all the necessary documents, filled out the completed rental application, paid the application fee and submitted everything. You meet all the qualifications and you’re certain you’re a shoo-in to get approved. But, then…nothing. Radio silence. You’re left in the dark, waiting to hear back from the landlord about whether they approved your rental application or not.
While it’s frustrating, there are valid reasons why your rental application may take longer to approve. Knowing what those factors or reasons are lets you prepare in advance to avoid them, thereby speeding up the process and getting you approved for an apartment faster.
Why is the property manager taking so long with the rental application process?
How long does it take to complete the application process? There are numerous factors that go into a rental application taking more or less time to approve. Primarily, it’s because your potential landlord needs to verify or confirm a lot of information. But, some of that information may take longer to verify.
If you’re waiting and waiting to hear back from a landlord about whether you’ve been approved for an apartment or not, these are the most likely reasons for the delay.
1. You didn’t fill out all the information or provide the necessary documents
If you didn’t completely fill out the rental application with all the necessary information, the landlord will need to reach out to you for the missing information. It slows the rental application process down, and it doesn’t leave the best impression on the landlord. When filling out the rental application, completely fill in all the different sections. Most important of all is to include identifying personal information like your name, current address, contact information and Social Security Number. After you’ve completed the rental application, read back through it to make sure you didn’t miss anything.
Similarly, not providing the right supporting documents slows the landlord down. They need the correct documents like your SSN and driver’s license number in order to run a background check on a potential tenant.
2. Running background and credit checks
Either working through an agency or independently, landlords need to run background checks on prospective tenants. It’s one of the fastest ways to verify all the key information like identity verification, monthly income and if you have a criminal record. If any essential information is missing from the initial application, the landlord, property management company or background check company will take longer to find and confirm that missing information.
If the property manager needs your credit report, make sure that you don’t have a freeze on your credit when they run a credit check. They’ll have to reach out to you to remove the freeze in order to check your credit score and credit history. While removing the freeze is relatively straightforward, it still wastes valuable time.
If you have bad credit, that also slows down the process. You’ll likely need to bring a co-signer or co-applicant on board in order to move forward.
3. They’re confirming your employment history and income
During the apartment rental application process, landlords reach out to your employers. In addition to verifying your employment status, place and length of employment and income, employers are great character references.
If landlords are held up at this step of the process, it’s likely because they’ve run into issues attempting to contact your place of current and previous employment. They may have a hard time getting in touch with your boss. If you’re in the process of applying for a new apartment, let your employer know. They can look for a call or email from the landlord and will know to answer in a timely manner.
4. It’s taking them time to confirm your rental history
Similar to digging into your employment history, landlords also explore your rental history report to ensure you’ll be a good tenant. Typically, they’ll reach out to your past landlords. They’ll ask your previous landlords to confirm your previous addresses and get a sense of how you are as a tenant, such as if you have any issues with paying rent on time. You’ll likely need to provide contact information for at least two prior landlords or a leasing office to contact. If you owned a home in the past, they may even want to contact the real estate agent.
Make sure your past landlord knows to expect a call regarding your rental history. That way, your potential landlord doesn’t have to chase down your landlord references. Keeping everyone informed about the process speeds up the approval process.
They’ll also look into whether you’ve had any evictions or dealings in landlord-tenant court.
5. They need to verify your income
In order to get approved for an apartment, the landlord needs to make sure you can comfortably afford to pay rent, as well as your other financial necessities. That’s why most landlords require a gross monthly income three times greater than the cost of monthly rent. In your initial application, you should have submitted several months’ worth of pay stubs, bank statements or proof of annual income like tax returns.
In some cases, the pay stubs or bank statements you provided aren’t enough proof of income. They’ll let you know that you need to provide additional income verification materials. If you have a non-traditional job like a freelancer, you’ll likely need to provide more background financial information.
6. They’re getting in touch with your references
Along with your ex-landlords and employers, some landlords like to hear from your friends and colleagues during the rental application process. It sheds light on you as an overall person, vouching for your reliability, stability and personality.
Before submitting the name of someone you know as a character reference, ask for that person’s permission first. Then, let them know approximately when they can expect to hear from the landlord.
7. They need additional documents or materials to move forward
A landlord will need to hit pause on your rental application if they need more verification. They’ll reach out to you to let you know exactly what else they need to move the approval process forward.
Try to get them the documents or materials they need as soon as possible to reduce the delay.
8. They’re approving your co-applicant or co-signer
If your credit report turned back a bad credit score or your monthly income isn’t high enough, you might not have everything it would take to get approved. But, the landlord can move forward if you have someone like a family member act as a co-signer. Your co-signer or co-applicant needs better financial standing than you, with a better credit score, income and assets.
Your co-signer will still need approval, as well, though. So, it may take anywhere from a few hours to an additional day or so to approve your co-signer.
9. Your payment didn’t clear
It’s embarrassing, but it happens. You could overdraw your account by paying the processing fee or trying to put down a security deposit.
Have all your money set to go to avoid this mishap, which may sour the landlords’ impressions of your finances.
How long does an application take for an apartment?
Typically, the apartment application approval process should take between 24 and 72 hours. But, if you’re dealing with any of the above delays in processing, the time to process rental applications could stretch longer.
If you submitted your application late in the day or on a Friday, the rental application won’t move forward until business hours start again. Submitting your application early in the week or the day sets you up for success and avoids delays.
However, if you’ve done your research and submitted all the right materials at the right time, getting approved for an apartment could take only a few hours.
How can I speed up my apartment application?
With rental properties being snapped up faster than ever, having your rental application held up puts you at risk of losing that dream apartment. Here’s how you can speed up the process of getting approved for an apartment and avoid delays.
1. Complete the rental application with all the necessary information
Make sure you’ve completely filled out all the sections of your rental application. Don’t leave any sections blank and ensure all vital information like your name and SSN are clearly listed.
2. Have all your documents ready
Have originals and copies of all supporting documents ready to go so the landlord doesn’t need to chase them down or contact you again and again.
3. Have proof of income
The more proof of income you can provide, the better. The further back it goes, the steady stream of income shows reliability and dependability. That’s why you should have at least two to three months’ worth of pay stubs ready to go.
If you’re a freelancer or work a less conventional job, have additional income documents going back several months, as well.
4. Have a co-signer ready, if necessary
If you suspect you may need a co-signer in order to get approved, ask someone in advance so they can quickly hop on board if the need arises.
How long does it take for an apartment application to get approved?
Having your application held up in processing puts you at risk of losing the apartment you wanted. The more prepared you are, the faster you could be in the dream rental property.
Zoe Baillargeon is an award-winning writer and journalist based in Portland, Oregon, where she covers a variety of beats including travel, food and drink, lifestyle and culture for outlets like Apartment Guide, Rent., AFAR.com, Fodor’s, The Manual, Matador Network and more. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, hiking, reading and spoiling her cat.
Any renter knows that a new apartment comes with a new lease agreement. It’s just a part of the apartment rental process. Once you find the perfect apartment, you’ll sit down to finalize the paperwork, including the lease. Once you finalize this step, the apartment is yours!
Before you get too excited about moving in and decorating though, it’s important to understand the lease before you sign on the dotted line. This is your ultimate guide to lease lengths for your next apartment rental.
What is a lease?
Let’s start with the basics. A lease is a legally binding contract between a tenant and a property owner. Tenants agree to pay rent in exchange for leasing an apartment unit for a certain period of time. The lease defines everything from the rent rate to the move-in date.
Leases outline exactly how much money you’ll owe for each month’s rent and it also states how much you need to pay for a security deposit and other apartment application fees. Paying rent and security deposits are some of the rules agreed upon when you sign the lease and before you move in.
All apartment complexes and property managers will require tenants to sign a lease. Landlords want to rent to people who can pay the cost of the property each month and are willing to agree to the legally binding lease.
How long is a lease for an apartment
Now that you understand leases at a high level, let’s talk about lease lengths. The length of the lease can vary, depending on the landlord or property owner. Before signing, you need to understand how long you’re signing for as you’re legally bound to the lease terms.
Leases range from short-term leases to long-term leases. Some landlords allow you to rent on a month-to-month basis while others require an annual commitment. Term leases will be in the lease document and will designate how long you’re required to stay in the lease. You can break a lease, but you’ll often see hefty fees involved in terminating your lease early.
Depending on where you are in life and what you’re looking for when it comes to renting, you’ll want to decide what lease terms are right for you. Once you know your living situation, you can sign the lease agreement that is right for you.
How long do most apartment leases last?
Most apartments will offer a term lease that is at least a year. Property managers want tenants to sign a year-long lease because it guarantees they’ll have a tenant renting the unit and paying rent for 12 months. The property manager is responsible for filling units so a longer lease is appealing to them.
However, you can find a variety of lease lengths, depending on the apartment complex and the landlord. You can also negotiate your lease terms when it comes time to renew the lease agreement.
What is the shortest time you can lease an apartment?
Lease terms vary but short-term leases are anything shorter than one year. Anything more than one year is a long-term lease. Regardless of the lease term, you’ll still pay a security deposit and monthly rent for all rentals.
You can find a short-term lease that ranges anywhere from 30 days to three months to six months. Short-term rentals will outline the lease term in the many pages of the agreement itself.
A six-month lease is short term but the shortest of all is a month-to-month lease or a 30-day lease agreement.
What is a month-to-month lease?
Month-to-month leases allow the new tenant to decide each month if they want to renew and keep renting. Though this agreement provides flexibility to the renter, it will typically cost more. Landlords have to continually find new renters for the open apartments so a month-to-month lease is a riskier option for them.
Usually, with a short-term lease, you’ll need to give the landlord 30-days’ notice before you vacate the apartment. For month-to-month leases, this means you need to know if you’re staying into the next month when you sign the short-term lease.
Basically, you’ll need to plan 60 days out when you want to move in and move out before signing anything. Otherwise, you might owe fees for breaking the lease early.
With other short-term leases, you’ll still need to give the landlord a heads-up before you plan to move out. Remember, the lease is a legally binding contract so make sure you understand the fine print before signing it.
Reasons to choose a short-term lease
So, why would people choose a short-term lease? Here are a few pros and cons.
Pros of a short-term lease
You can try a new city — Short-term leases are great if you’re considering moving to a different city. You can sign a month-to-month lease without having to commit to an extended time in that location. If you like the city, great! You can consider signing a long-term lease after your first month is up. Or, if you don’t love where you live, you can find a different city or apartment.
You can move out into your first apartment with low risk — Your first time moving out is a big, intimidating decision so avoiding a long-term lease is a good idea if you’re unsure about living on your own. By signing a shorter lease agreement, you can test if you like living on your own or not.
You can rent furnished apartments — If you travel a lot for work or are a digital nomad, then a short-term lease with furnishings included are a great option. You can move from place to place fairly easily without having too many objects or commitments tying you down.
Cons of a short-term lease
They cost more — Because short-term rentals are riskier for a landlord, they typically cost more. You might see a ding in your bank account because the fees, like rent and the security deposit, are higher.
You’ll need to plan your next move frequently — A short lease term means you need to have the next move already planned out. Thirty, 60 or 90 days will come and go quickly, so you need to think ahead about if you’ll stay or go. This is stressful for some people who don’t like constantly planning the next move.
What is the longest lease term for an apartment?
If a short-term lease is anything under 12 months, then a long-term lease is 12 months or more. The lease term will vary, but you can find leases for 12 months, 15 months or even 24. It’s up to the landlord to determine the exact lease term.
Reasons to choose a long-term lease
A long-term lease is a good option for renters who know they want to stay in one place for a longer period of time. These lease agreements provide:
Stability — When you stay at one apartment for a while, you have more stability because you’re able to plant roots and know you won’t have to move frequently.
Guaranteed place to live — Unless you’re evicted, you have an equal housing opportunity to find a place and stay there through the length of your lease.
Ability to budget — Knowing that you’ll be in the same place for a set amount of time, you can budget how much you’ll spend in rent for the length of the lease. This can help ease financial stress.
Building a relationship with the landlord – As you stay in one place because of a long-term lease, you’ll build rapport with your landlord, which is a nice benefit for when you move in the future to have a landlord reference on-hand.
What you need to know about monthly rent and an apartment lease
When you’re apartment hunting, you need to consider everything from location to the cost of rent to lease length. Regardless of the lease duration, you need to know that state laws view leases as legally binding contracts. So, don’t sign anything before you fully comprehend the ins and outs of the lease.
Do you understand the lease terms so you know what you’re getting yourself into? Before you dot your “i’s” and cross your “t’s”, ask yourself these questions:
How much can I spend in monthly rent?
Can I afford the security deposit and other fees?
How long do I want to live in one place?
Do I want a month-to-month lease or a year-long lease?
Truthfully answering these questions for yourself will help the process move smoothly and ensure you’re moving into the place of your dreams and signing the terms you are comfortable with.
Sage Singleton is a freelance writer with a passion for literature and words. She enjoys writing articles that will inspire, educate and influence readers. She loves that words have the power to create change and make a positive impact in the world. Some of her work has been featured on LendingTree, Venture Beat, Architectural Digest, Porch.com and Homes.com. In her free time, she loves traveling, reading and learning French.
In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Dana Dunford from Hemlane.
Without further ado…
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m the CEO and co-founder of Hemlane, a technology-enabled property management platform. Through real estate, I have become a strong advocate of purchasing properties anywhere, as the best investments are not typically in your backyard. I help real estate investors set up the most intelligent process to manage rentals from a distance, while connecting them with local, licensed professionals.
What problem does your product/service solve?
Most rental owners select between do-it-yourself management and hiring a traditional property management company. The majority of owners opt to take the do-it-yourself approach to management. Hemlane is a flexible and transparent solution, where rental owners can manage from anywhere with the option to use our 24/7 repair coordination team and local, licensed leasing agent partners.
What’s are you most excited about right now?
Our team at Hemlane. Steve Jobs once said, “A team of A+ players will run circles around a team of B and C players.” This is very true. While we only have 14 members on the team, they all have entrepreneurial spirits, a strong work ethic, and are downright great people. And, we’re planning to all reconvene post-COVID, which will be a great company event.
What’s next for you?
In the most immediate future, we’re launching new pricing tiers at Hemlane which will be more attractive to our user base. And, we’re really looking forward to our Series A round next year. On a personal note, I’m excited about the opportunity to go back to Africa after COVID to visit my husband’s family and watch our twins grow up.
What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?
I care very deeply about the oceans. My mom is a geophysicist and oceanographer, my dad is a ship captain, and my husband is a surfer. I’ve always grown up near the beach. To help preserve sea life, my husband and I are deeply committed and connected to the Golden State Salmon Association.
Thanks to Dana for sharing her story. If you’d like to connect, find her on LinkedIn here.
We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).
What happens if your landlord tries to return your $500 security deposit but they don’t have your forwarding address? Or the company whose stock you bought in college is trying to send you dividend checks in the mail, but they never get cashed? In both cases, your money becomes “unclaimed property”.
After claiming your money, bank your funds somewhere you can watch them grow* – Chime® offers 2.00% APY7 with no monthly fees2
In total, Americans have $42 billion in unclaimed property, creating the world’s largest financial lost-and-found. On average, 1 in 10 Americans have unclaimed property in the form of uncashed checks, forgotten deposit boxes, and more just lying around waiting for their owners to come claim them.
Could you have unclaimed cash? How can you check? Let’s investigate.
What’s Ahead:
What is “unclaimed property”?
Unclaimed property is a financial asset that has an owner, but the owner hasn’t come to get it.
The most common examples of unclaimed property are checks that haven’t been cashed. These could be returns of security deposits for rent or utilities, final pay stubs, refunds, class action settlements, stock dividends, royalty payments, and more (all the more reason you should give your direct deposit information whenever possible).
Other examples that probably aren’t as applicable to the under-30 crowd include long-dormant savings and checking accounts, life insurance payouts, and tangibles such as forgotten security deposit boxes.
How and why does property go unclaimed in the United States?
Property goes unclaimed all the time in the United States, mostly because financial entities are unable to contact owners.
Let’s say your old leasing company tries to return your $500 security deposit. However, without your direct deposit information or your forwarding address, they’re kind of stuck. They might try to reach out to you via email or your cell, but most states only require the holder of the property to reach out to the owner via snail mail once.
If you don’t claim your $500 after the, erm, letter, the $500 enters a “dormancy period” of typically one year before the financial institution holding the money must officially declare it as unclaimed property to the state.
So basically, if you don’t cash your $500 check within a year of moving out, your leasing company will turn it over to the “lost and found” aka the state government.
What are the laws surrounding unclaimed funds?
Laws surrounding unclaimed property areextremely strict. Financial institutions are not allowed to keep the unclaimed property under any circumstances; they must report it to the state immediately after the dormancy period.
If they don’t, and try to pocket the goods, they’ll get into immense trouble with the IRS. Furthermore, there’s no statute of limitations on unclaimed property so the feds can come knocking anytime, and audit companies back for decades to make things right.
The lengths our government goes to in order to protect unclaimed property for individual Americans is pretty awesome, if you ask me. Without those property protection laws in place, many companies would probably begin leveraging every manipulation tactic in the book to cheat consumers like us out of our rightful property. For example, a lot of checks from financial institutions to individuals might start mysteriously disappearing from the mail…
After all, how would you feel if your landlord simply waited for you to forget about your deposit and spent your $500 on some tacky lobby statue?
Do unclaimed property laws change based on location?
Yes; each state has their own unclaimed property laws. Variables like dormancy periods, due diligence, and more might vary across borders.
For example, Alabama’s dormancy periods average three years, but for some reason, financial entities don’t have to report traveler’s checks as unclaimed until they’ve gone un-cashed for 15 years.
In New York, holders of the property must perform the following due diligence at least 90 days prior to reporting the property as unclaimed: contact the owners via snail mail at least once, twice if the value of the property exceeds $1,000.
Most states have similar laws calling for such comically little “due diligence.” But in all seriousness, I totally get it; companies don’t hire teams of private investigators to find Steve, who never cashed his $6.47 dividend check back in 2009. Rather, it’s our responsibility as consumers and patrons to keep our contact information up to date and make it easy for these institutions to pay us.
Who’s tracking unclaimed property?
Once the financial entity holding the unclaimed property reports it to the state, the state tracks it on a government-run database, accessible through a web portal.
While each state runs and maintains their own unclaimed property database, you don’t have to search every state you’ve lived in individually. Thankfully, there are trustworthy third-party sites that can show you a bird’s eye view of all the states where you have unclaimed property.
The two most popular unclaimed property sites are missingmoney.com and unclaimed.org. I like them both for different reasons.
Missing Money cuts to the chase, letting you find out if you have unclaimed property, and in which states, in less than a second. All you have to do is plug in your name and voila, a list with links to claim in each state appears (more on that in the next section).
Unclaimed.org, the official site of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, is a better destination for simply learning more about unclaimed property in general. It features a search function, but it’s less usable and accessible than Missing Money. Still, there’s tons to learn on Unclaimed.org if you’re curious to know more about this strange phenomenon.
How can I find out if I have unclaimed funds?
You can find out if you have unclaimed property in seconds by plugging your full, legal name into Missing Money’s search bar.
To my shock, I was one of the lucky Americans with unclaimed property. Woohoo!
One quick look at the “Reported By” column and I knew exactly what had happened. I own some shares of Disney stock and they’ve apparently been sending my dividend checks to an old address in Wisconsin. It’s been going on for so long that my unclaimed cash has accumulated into a nice pile that will cover my fall latte budget.
How can I claim my unclaimed funds?
If you also have unclaimed funds, all you have to do is click CLAIM next to your name (Missing Money will list everyone else with your name, so be sure to click the one that matches your current/past address to confirm it’s you).
Using the CLAIM button I was redirected to the WI state government website where I followed some pretty logical steps to complete my claim. To nobody’s surprise, the first thing they asked for was my direct deposit information.
Next, Wisconsin (and I assume most other states) requires you to provide three documents to prove your identity: a government-issued ID, proof that you lived at the address associated with the claim, and proof of your social security number.
My ID and work documents covered #1 #3, but #2 was a bit more of a challenge. I dug through my inbox and thankfully found a scan of my old lease for the building, so I submitted that.
Once I’d submitted everything and provided my digital signature confirming I wasn’t a bad guy, I finally reached the confirmation page. I wasn’t too surprised to see that it would take six to eight weeks for an update, and I expect it will take even longer due to COVID-19.
Even still, I’m grateful that I not only had unclaimed property, but that Disney reported it, the state government of Wisconsin tracked it, and the claim submission process was rigorous but user-friendly.
If you haven’t already, I very strongly encourage you to spend a minute on Missing Money, searching for unclaimed property belonging to you or your loved ones.
While technically there’s no big rush to claim your unclaimed property, it’s not doing anyone any good just sitting in a state escrow. You might as well file a claim and grab it now so you can begin multiplying it!
What should I do with my money once I receive it?
If it’s money you don’t need right now, why not toss it into a savings account and let it accumulate a little interest? I’m a fan of both Chime and the CIT Bank Savings Builder as options.
With a Chime Automatic Savings Account, you’ll enjoy an above-average interest rate of 2.00% APY7 right off the bat. Plus, you’ll have the option to round up every purchase to the nearest dollar, depositing the change into savings and filling your monthly statements with clean, whole numbers. ^
Open a CIT Savings Builder Account and you’ll score up to 1.00% APY compounded daily. In order to keep that sweet compounding interest, CIT requires you to maintain a balance of $25,000 or deposit at least $100 monthly, which I see as a perk; it ensures that you don’t neglect your savings account, lest you totally forget about it and find it on Missing Money in 10 years! See details here.
CIT Bank. Member FDIC.
* Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC. ^ Round Ups automatically round up debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and transfer the round up from your Chime Checking Account to your savings account. 2 There’s no fee for the Chime Savings Account. Cash withdrawal and Third-party fees may apply to Chime Checking Accounts. You must have a Chime Checking Account to open a Chime Savings Account. 7 The Annual Percentage Yield (“APY”) for the Chime Savings Account is variable and may change at any time. The disclosed APY is effective as of November 17, 2022. No minimum balance required. Must have $0.01 in savings to earn interest.
Summary
I’ll admit that when I was first assigned to investigate “unclaimed money and how to get it”, I thought it sounded super sketchy. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Reclaiming your unclaimed money from the government is a smooth process, and one that you should repeat at least once a year. After all, it only takes a few seconds to check. Plus, searching for any unclaimed property could be a great way to share something new with your folks and even fund Christmas this year.